Maris claimed the European fund wasn't shut down, it was just merged with the main fund. "We still have partners there," he said.

However, there are only two partners remaining at Google Ventures in Europe: Tom Hulme and Avid Larizadeh Duggan.

Peter Read left in July, Google shut down its dedicated European VC fund in December, and veteran Google employee Eze Vidra left on Christmas Day. The other person who launched the European fund in 2014, M.G. Siegler, has since returned to work for Google Ventures in the US.

Google Ventures uses an algorithm that gathers information about a company and its industry in order to help its partners figure out whether to invest in it. Maris told Loizos that "we’re looking at the market and at economic indicators and the funding environment and who has gotten funded and it’s just one input into the decision-making process."

During the interview with Loizos, Maris said there's "insecurity" in European technology:

There’s some insecurity in Europe that I don’t understand, about: We’re not good enough. That’s not the reality. There are great companies and entrepreneurs there and I’m happy with what’s happening.

There's no sign that Google Ventures is going to stop investing in European technology companies, either. Maris said that there have been eight investments in Europe, with six already announced and two more that will become public soon.